Occurrence of different inter-varietal and inter-organ defence strategies towards supra-optimal zinc concentrations in two cultivars of Triticum aestivum L.

Two bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars (Albimonte, traditional cultivar very important in Italy since long time; and Manital, more recent, evincing better productive performances) were grown for 10 d in presence of 0.7 (control), 70 or 350 μM ZnSO₄, to verify whether Zn excess was differently managed at inter-varietal and at inter-organ level. Roots were found to be the main site of Zn accumulation, although a moderate metal translocation to leaves occurred in both cultivars. Despite only slight differences in internal Zn concentrations between cultivars, Albimonte seemed to be more sensitive to Zn excess in terms of growth reduction and H₂O₂ accumulation, suggesting that the diversities in responses to Zn stress should be ascribed here to inter-varietal metabolic differences. In both cultivars, increased NAD(P)H oxidation rate by pH-dependent peroxidases, and reduced detoxification activity by catalase and peroxidases, were responsible for Zn-induced H₂O₂ accumulation, while total superoxide dismutase content and activity seemed in general to not change or even depress. Moreover, differences in the content of thiol-peptide compounds (glutathione and phytochelatins) were detected, suggesting indeed the setting up of differential response mechanisms to Zn excess at an inter-varietal and inter-organ level.